After four months in first grade, a

After four months in first grade, an
incident occurred that Lupe still does
not fully understand. As she stood in the
doorway of the classroom waiting to
escort a little girl to the bathroom, a man
approached her. He asked her, in Spanish,
how to find the principal’s office. Lupe
was delighted. “Finally someone in this
school had spoken to me with words I
could understand, in the language of my
soul, the language of my grandmother,”
she said. Eagerly, she answered his
question in Spanish. Instantly her teacher
swooped down on her,